Every tech company seems to be flirting with wearable AI gadgets, but the way they take shape is all over the map. Glasses are here with Meta and soon Google, while OpenAI's hardware project with Jony Ive is still a mystery. Apple, meanwhile, could release glasses too. Or maybe not.
A new report from The Information says Apple's working on a small pin about the size of an AirTag that would have its own camera and work as an AI wearable. Why? Right now, Apple has no other place to put an outward-facing camera. Cameras are the key ingredient at play for any AI service that wants to not just respond to your voice but also give you feedback on what you're seeing in the room.
Humane's AI Pin was a failed product, but the first to really try being a worn alternative to AI glasses. Scott Stein/Viva Tung/CNET
Would a pin be a stepping-stone to glasses?
Cameras are a big part of why AI glasses are on the rise. It's relatively easy to put a camera in a glasses frame near your eyes and have it work with AI to recognize objects its sees and offer advice and information. A pin or a pendant provides a way for AI to "see" the world without you having to wear a pair of glasses. Lots of companies have already tried this, or are still trying, with and without cameras.
The way I see it, Apple's collective wearable hardware ecosystem gives it an advantage over competing AI wearable contenders. Take AirPods, for example.
Multiple reports have said that new AirPods Pro models are coming this year with infrared cameras that can recognize hand gestures. For regular AirPods use, that seems excessive. But for interacting with AI? Maybe it's just right, especially if gesture controls are coming that could mimic what Meta's doing with its neural wristband. And if combined with a camera-equipped pin, maybe it could all function as an experience that works display-free, so no need for smart glasses.
I think I'd just prefer good glasses that did all of this, but that's the thing: That's not easy to do right now, and battery life on smart glasses is still mostly under a full day. However, Apple might have its sights on smart glasses that have displays onboard as some sort of next step evolution of what they've already established on Vision Pro. For that, glasses might have to wait a little longer.
Meta's Ray-Bans (top) sit on a Vision Pro (bottom). Apple still doesn't have glasses yet, but they have earbuds and watches and a lot of gesture control possibilities. Scott Stein/CNET
How many Apple products are going to interlink with AI? And when?
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